Thursday, December 25, 2008

Proust and Photography


Santa meant to bring Paintings in Proust, but he got a tad confused and arrived with Proust and the Power of Photography




A big surprise, to be sure, and this turns out to be a very interesting little book, with lots of unexpected gems about Marcel.

Apparently M. was something of a sloppy dresser and was the bane of his mother who liked for him to leave the apartment looking rather spiffy. Alas, not.

He loved exchaning photographs with friends and with new acquaintances, and he would bother them until they acquiesced and gave him their image.

It's all about images, isn't it?


Merry Christmas, and Joyeux Noel.


The Other Odette

2 comments:

Story teller - Krishnadas Dwija said...

Proust for christmas --that is almost poetic. I am currently reading don quixote and immedieatrly after it, I am going to start "swann's way." Let me know on my blog if you have any suggestions.
PS: I have been ignoring my blog for some days, since I had my exams.

Anonymous said...

Beautifully produced book. It was interesting that Brassai is said to have learned French by reading Proust. The translation is superb and reveals what an accomplished writer Brassai himself is which is allied to a compendious knowledge of The Work.

Although I have always admired the photography of Brassai, paradoxically I am not sure that the images in the book do actually add that much to the text. But there again all the most important photographically intact images in a life are never caught on camera are they?